1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle control system that executes anti-collision safety control on the basis of an output from an in-vehicle radar device, and a specific object determination device, a specific object determination method and a non-transitory storage medium that stores a specific object determination program, which are used in the vehicle control system.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been practically used a technique for anti-collision safety control through which a positional relationship between a vehicle and an obstacle is recognized on the basis of an output from a radar device mounted on the vehicle and then brake control is automatically executed or an airbag is controlled in advance when there is a likelihood of a collision. With such a technique, by improving the accuracy of recognizing an obstacle, it is possible to further appropriately execute anti-collision safety control. For example, if it is possible to accurately recognize a low-level metal object (that a vehicle is able to run over), such as a joint of a bridge, a steel plate for construction and a lid (grating) of a ditch, it is possible to automatically limit brake control and, as a result, to further appropriately execute anti-collision safety control.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-261897 (JP 2010-261897 A) describes a vehicle object detecting device that calculates the width of an object on the basis of a position of a reflection point of an electromagnetic wave, that further sets a position of a representative point of the object on the basis of positions of a plurality of the reflection points and that calculates a relative velocity in a host vehicle width direction (lateral relative velocity) of the object on the basis of a variation in the position of the reflection point or representative point. In the vehicle object detecting device, when it is determined that the object is a stationary object and the amount of increase in the width of the object is larger than a predetermined value on the basis of the detection history of the object detected at predetermined intervals, a lateral relative velocity calculated by lateral relative velocity calculation means is corrected, thus improving the accuracy of the lateral relative velocity.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-051572 (JP 2011-051572 A) describes a vehicle control system that is used to avoid a collision with an obstacle when no operation of a steering wheel has been detected. The vehicle control system determines whether a road on which a vehicle is travelling is a curve having a bank with an inclination angle larger than or equal to a predetermined angle in a vehicle width direction and, when the vehicle control system determines that the vehicle is travelling on a curve having a bank, sets the threshold of a time to contact to suppress or prohibit control for avoiding a collision with the obstacle.
However, the device described in JP 2010-261897 A just corrects a lateral relative velocity as a result of recognition of a stationary object and may not be able to appropriately determine whether it is a situation in which anti-collision safety control needs to be executed.
In addition, the system described in JP 2011-051572 A just executes anti-collision safety control when no operation of the steering wheel has been detected, so a condition for suppressing anti-collision safety control is limited to a curve having a bank, that is, a situation in which the vehicle is able to turn without steering operation. Therefore, the system is not applicable to other various travelling environments.